Beginning in the 1960s, Vidal spent most of each year in Rome, maintaining an apartment in the city and later purchasing a villa on the Amalfi coast. This distance from the US gave him perspective on what he referred to as the “United States of Amnesia.” Vidal settled in Rome to work at the library of the American Academy, where he researched Julian (1964), his return to the novel after years of writing for Broadway, television and film. He first met Fellini on the set of Ben-Hur (1959). “Gorino” remained friends with “Fred” for thirty-five years and translated the screenplay for Fellini’s Casanova (1976) into English.

HFA writer Carson Lund describes Roma as “a time-spanning symphony for the Eternal City that makes few concessions to objective reality or comprehensiveness, unfolding instead as a pinwheel spin of the director’s memories, obsessions and fascinations…” In Vidal’s brilliant cameo, he is the quintessential American Icon Abroad, played in the manner of a movie star on the Via Veneto at the time of La Dolce Vita. This is probably Vidal’s first appearance on film as himself. When not playing himself, he usually portrayed a character very similar to his public persona. Other memorable appearances include Bob Roberts (Senator), With Honors (Harvard professor), Shadow Conspiracy (Congressman) and Igby Goes Down (Catholic priest; Vidal was a confirmed atheist).